Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Rating Upgraded by William Blair

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was upgraded by equities research analysts at William Blair to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ABT. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.00.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of ABT stock traded up $4.00 during trading on Thursday, reaching $127.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,379,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,584,999. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $110.86 and a one year high of $141.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $129.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.22. The company has a market cap of $222.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.30. The firm had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 31.88%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,850,000 after buying an additional 4,755 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $245,000. Brookwood Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth $411,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 384,814 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $51,046,000 after purchasing an additional 11,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 11.3% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 158,441 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $21,017,000 after purchasing an additional 16,071 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.